Crash and Burn
by Roseprincess1
Summary: Number 10 in the "Angel" series. Angel goes home to her own family and to confront her own past and emotional problems. Prime goes with her for suppport, all autobots follow shortly. Told from Prime's POV.
1. Default Chapter

Notes: Legal stuff: Dont own the TF's, dont own the song, just borrowing them for some fun. So don't sue me.

Dedication: This is the tenth story in my series, I would never have had the confidence to get this far with out all of my readers and fans out there. So with much gratitude and a hope that you will keep following the story, I would like to dedicate this milestone to all of my readers and fans! Thanks for all of your support and kind words. Enjoy!

RP1

Crash and Burn: part 1

I was warm, I was happy and the last thing I wanted to do at that point was to move. However that wretched little contraption sitting on the bed side simply refused to shut its self up. She had already reached out and slapped the thing back into silence more than once, but it refused to give up and let us enjoy our selves. This time I lay there beside her for a few seconds longer and then proceeded to get irate with the thing. I have spent the last nine million years getting dragged out of recharge at the skid plate crack of dawn. For once I was intent on enjoying, as Angel would have put it, sleeping in.

So I was less than thrilled when the alarm yowled at us over and over again. She snuggled back into me for a second and proceeded to try and pull away in order to get up and turn the thing off. I had other ideas. I proceeded to sit up glare at the thing for a few seconds, pull my ion cannon out of sub space and blow the thing into about a million bits. It was a pretty good shot actually, it didn't damage the table and it didn't destroy any thing else, just sent bits of the thing flying in a five foot radius.

Angel leaned her self up on one elbow and looked at it, looked at me, and then grinned at me.

"Do you know how long I've wanted to do something like that?"

I had to smile down at her then proceeded to settle back down and pat the pillow next to me. Angel snuggled back up into my arms and we were both well on our way to going back to sleep. When the door to her room flew open and her whole family stormed into the room and glared at the two of us.

"WHAT was that?" Her mom got out.

"Did something explode?" This was her father.

About ten other people had come into the room and were making comments about the noise. Angel glared at them and I suddenly wished that I had refrained from shooting the thing if only to keep them from bothering us. Still now it was started and to be perfectly honest I should have seen the next comment that some one made, her grandfather I think.

"So are you two kids gonna sleep all day? Its time to get out of bed"

I heard Angel groan and bury her head in her pillow and I checked my own internal chronometer and saw that it was just barely Five AM. I looked down at the pillow that was covering the head of my life mate and had to ask the question that was just hanging in the air.

"I thought you said your family was made up of civilians?"

I got a muffled response from some where under the pillow and then she proceeded to pop up and toss it at the nearest relative.

"OUT!" She snarled, "WE were trying to sleep!"

"But what was that noise?" He mom continued.

"It's called an Ion Cannon," Angel growled back, "That's what happens when you go around setting people's clocks for FIVE AM!"

"Your husband blew up the alarm clock?" Her father suddenly sounded amused.

"That's what I said wasn't it?"

Her father continued to look amused for a second and then proceeded to herd all the rest of the family out of the room and look back at us, "look I am sorry about that, you know your Grandpa."

She groaned and looked at him, "HE knows my room is off limits, besides I was the one that came here and set this place up for the rest of you nutcases!"

"I know honey I know," He still looked amused some what but shook his head at us, "Go on back to sleep, you two are technically on vacation so get up when it suits you Okay?"

She nodded to him, "Thanks Daddy."

The door closed behind him and she put her head down on her arms and smooshed her face into the mattress.

"I'm sorry 'Rion!"

I looked down at her and grinned at her new habit. She had taken to calling my by my real name since we our return from Cybertron about a two weeks ago. It was kind of unnerving at first but on about the third day when I found out it was only for me alone, it turned out to be as endearing as hell and so she had kept it up.

I leaned down beside her and put my arm around her shoulders, "Don't worry about it Angel. It's not like I don't have my fair share of nuts for you to put up with back home."

She rolled over and stared up at me, "Oh don't start! My family makes Red Alert look positively sane and you know it."

I leaned closer and kissed her before more protests could come out of her mouth.

"Look love," I grinned, "I think they are doing just fine for now, besides at least they didn't flip out about me like you thought they were going to."

She rolled her eyes and flopped her head back remembering two days ago when the call had come into her cell phone at the ark. It turned out to be her mother on the other end. The woman was informing Angel that a family crisis had arisen and that she was needed back home to help solve it. It took Angel the better part of an afternoon to get up the wherewithal to tell me what was going on and then tells me that, like it or not, she had to go back home and deal with this mess.

I think she must have believed that I was going to get angry or up set over her having to go home and look after her family, because her jaw hit ground zero when I told her that not only did I demand that she go back and give them what ever help they needed, but that I would be going with her to make sure she had someone to take care of her. She managed to stutter a few words about the command needing me and me not being able to take time out of a war just to look after her.

Protests which I quickly shut up by telling her that Megatron and most of the Decepticons were still on Cybertron, to scared after Megatron's last stunt to show up and cause much of anything. So I assured her that left me free to look after my girl for a change. After that she didn't have a lot else to say so she packed her bags and hugged Alyssa goodbye, and told every one else that we would be back in a week or two.

I looked back at the entrance as we pulled off and caught a look between Alyssa and Wheeljack, the grin that meant we'd probably have about two days there to deal with Angel's family alone and then they would follow us.

So I had taken off and we had arrived about three hours before the rest of my life mate's family. I had already met her parents but the rest of them would be something new to me. Angel stood in the door way watching them arrive with a look of complete dread on her face. Indeed some of them did give off the impression that they dearly wanted to say some thing about her relationship but she stood there holding on to my arm daring any of them to say anything.

It wasn't to long after that that her parents showed up and we found out exactly what it was that was going on here. Her sister, who had been causing hell in My Angel's family from the moment her sister had hit 18, had come to an impasse between her oldest child and her husband. The fact of the matter was that when the kid was around the husband he showed more than a few signs that what he would love to do most would be ring the man's neck. This of course didn't turn out to be mere hostility or jealousy Angel had informed me, no this husband was the latest in a long line of abusive husbands. I felt my self gape a second time when Angel informed me over dinner that not only was this guy yet another abusive mate but that this was husband number seven.

Angel's mother piped up from across the table and told her that she shouldn't go around telling the family's dirty laundry to just any one. Angel folded her own arms and then glared promptly responding that A) If she couldn't tell her OWN husband who WAS she allowed to tell and B) it wasn't her fault that she'd managed to make a relationship work and her sister couldn't. That one set her whole family back and resulted in profuse apologies from ever one at that dinner table.

That had been last night, and once the dinner dishes were done we had come in here and planned on keeping to our selves until some one needed us. She finally made a wiggling motion and I let her up, to go and retrieve her pillow. A few seconds later she was settled back down and was dozing off again. I wanted to go back to sleep but something kept on haunting me. The way that the whole family had reacted about her sister's problems, all of them seemed to think that it was something to hide. Honestly, Angel hadn't really told me that much other than her sister's husbands had been jerks, and that she was in the process of working on number seven. As I settled back down next to her I found my self thinking that there was probably a great deal more to it than that. The anger I had seen in her eyes when she had told her family off last night hinted that there was something more. I would have to see if I could find out just what HAD happened to her and why this whole mess seemed to have her on edge. There was that made me wonder, as I looked down at her. It made me wonder if she didn't, in her own way, have as many emotional wounds as I did.


	2. Crash and Burn: Part 2

Crash and Burn: part 2

It turned out that we didn't get to sleep in much after all. We had managed to get in about an hour or so more when someone started pounding on the door to the room and demanding our attention. I think she really considered ignoring them and continuing to sleep, I _know_ I did, and probably would have if the person on the other side of the door hadn't started being insulting.

"ANGEL!" More pounding, "PLEASE get up! MORE of those things just showed up out side!"

That made it official, we were awake and Angel was ticked off. I sat up and watched her snatch off her covers grab her robe and storm over to the door. The woman on the other side was in mid pound when Angel opened the thing so she proceeded to fall into the room and land face first at Angel's feet. As she scrabbled up she started going off on what had just happened out side.

"Those THINGS Angel!" her aunt pointed at me for emphasis, "MORE of them just showed up! A whole trailer full! You have to come out and make them leave! We can't have more of those things running around here!"

Very calmly my life mate proceeded to tug her aunt into a standing position. Once she was sure the woman was up and wouldn't be falling over any time soon, she lit into her.

"First off," She told her, "They are not THINGS, GOT IT! They are Autobots! Second off," Angel stabbed her finger in my direction, "He's NOT a THING! He's my HUSBAND! And I don't really give a damn about what ever bull you have in your head that says other wise! You WILL treat him with the same amount of RESPECT that you show to the rest of your nieces' husbands, or I WILL kick your bony ass from here to Timbuktu! _ Understand_?"

She then proceeded almost physically toss the aunt out into the hall way and slam the door in her face.

"But Angel?" the woman wailed from the other side.

"Who ever it is, you go tell them to wait and when Optimus and I are decent we will be out to meet them." She paused for a second and then added. "You better bloody well be polite about it too!"

I heard her scuttle off and sat there and watched as Angel turned around and put her back to the door. She put her face in her hand for a second and then managed to regain her composure.

"I'm sorry she acted like that," Angel told me, "My aunt is…well I'm not really sure how to describe it."

"Your aunt isn't familiar with Transformers Angel," I grinned at her, "Give your relatives some time. After all, it's a lot to deal with."

"It wasn't a lot to deal with when all of my cousins, not to mention my sister, got married. Why should it be a big deal for me?"

She went over and began fishing around in her bag for a fresh out fit while I got up and started getting my self presentable as well.

"Well yes," I tried to reason with her, "But they didn't get married to me."

She made a snorting sound and I got the feeling she wanted to say something but kept her mouth shut for the moment.

"Compared to some of the people that have been let into this family I would think they'd be happy to let you in."

I shook my head at her, "Just let it go for now. It's only for a couple of weeks then we go back home okay?"

She stopped in mid brush and looked at me for a second, "I'd like that Orion. I really would."

Once again I saw something in her face that indicated to me there was more going on behind those eyes than she had ever let me know. I should have, right then demanded she tell me just what it was about her family that had her so up set all of the time. Just why every single one of these people that shared her genetics were so hostile. That morning how ever I never got the chance. I had just opened my mouth to start asking her when the loudest most blood curdling screech possible came from the front yard. I could tell from the voice that it was Angel's aunt and that something had just gotten her attention.

Angel sighed and tossed her hair brush back into her bag, "So much for her being polite. Come on lets go see what she's made mad this time."

What her aunt had managed to make mad was someone it turned out we knew, several someone's actually, several large someone's.

"GET IT OFF!" the aunt yelled while the thing proceeded to pin her to the ground with its forepaws and sniff at her.

Five others similar to this one were clustered around trying to get a better look at what was going on and demanding that this individual share its new amusement. While in the back ground Alyssa and a certain engineer were doing their level best not to crack up at the poor woman's predicament.

"So I see you finished the newest addition to the Dinobots." I grinned at Wheeljack as Angel and I walked over to them.

"Yah Slash was a really big hit with the rest of the Dinobots," Some where under there he grinned, "Though I don't think Angel's family is too fond of them."

Angel mean while was shaking her head and looking at her best friend demanding to know, "Why did you feel compelled to bring all SIX Dinobots with you?"  
"What?" Alyssa grinned at her, "I can take my "step kids" where ever I want to?"

"I can't believe you still are calling them that!"

"Well it's true!" Alyssa kept on grinning at her, "Jack built them, and I'm with him so that…"

"Okay OKAY!" Angel held up her hands, "I get the idea already! But why did you feel the need to bring them with you in this particular instance."

"I thought you could use some one, or something to lighten the mood around here." The other girl shrugged. "Besides, Slash likes it and so do the others."

"UHH excuse me!" The aunt managed from where the shrunk down mechanical mega raptor was still sniffing her, "Will some one please get this thing off of me!"

"She's not hurting you," I told Angel's aunt, "that's just Slash's way of saying hello."

"Me Slash like!" The new Dinobot proceeded to affirm, then went back to sniffing and pawing over her new playmate.

"Well any how," Angel nodded, "I am glad that you guys all showed up. This place was starting to wear on my nerves."  
"With people like that around," Alyssa nodded to the house, "I can see why."

"No kidding," Jack kept going for her, "They are completely different from Alyssa's family." He turned and looked at Angel, "Why are they all so negative?"  
"I've been looking for that answer most of my life Wheeljack." Her face fell some, "I haven't found one that I think makes sense yet"

Angel stood there for a second and then proceeded to shake it all off and snap back to the way she was when she wasn't around her family.

"Okay then," She grinned to Alyssa, "I guess you need some where to room the "Step kids" Huh?"

"Well we could just turn them loose in your house." The other girl confirmed, "But you told me you just had it redecorated not to long ago so I won't make you go through that."

Wheeljack grinned to me and then turned back to the girls, "Well these guys will be comfortable just about any where. Most of the time they hang out on their island or in the gullies around the ark, but if you have something specific in mind, sure they'd love to try it.

What Angel had in mind, it turned out, was the barn. I had seen the thing the first time we had ever been on the farm and had some very fond memories of it my self. That however was of the upper levels and what she was showing now was the bottom part. Which consisted of about ten very large very well built, horse stalls.

"This is where my dad's family used to keep their Belgians before the farm stopped being a working one. If these stalls can stand up to abuse from monster horses like that, then I'm pretty sure that they should be able to handle a pack of Dinobots."

"WOW," Alyssa looked the place over, "This thing is great! It's perfect!"

"I gotta admit Angel," Wheeljack agreed, "Someone had the Dinobots in mind when they concocted a design like this."

While they were looking over the thing and giving it the stamp of approval, the Dino's in question were already in there, moving.

"Me Slash got this one!" The raptor bot called from the back of the barn.

While the others were getting settled in and looking around, I took my own opportunity to look it over. Just like the top part it was cleaned out, and refurbished yearly so it was more than ready to take on what ever the Dino's could dish out.

"That's very sweet of you to offer them that," I told Angel when I had gotten her off to one side.

She grinned up at me, "Well I thought someone should get some enjoyment out of the thing." Her smile changed to something slyer, "The two of us can sneak out to the top part later tonight for some quality time if you want."

I grinned behind my mask at her and nodded telling her that I was MORE than willing to take her up on that offer.

"Excuse me?" a very weak voice called from the back stall, "Can you please make it let me go?"

Angel walked over and looked into the thing where Slash had already settled down and was still cuddling on her aunt.

"No." she grinned, "But I can get Alyssa up here and have her do it for you…."

"What do you want me to do?" The aunt got out.

"Just treat them like people okay?" She blinked at her, "Not like things."

"I will," the woman agreed.

Angel shook her head still not believing her but got Alyssa to come extricate her from Slash's grasp. Things eventually calmed down, and I realized that despite the fact that it was only ten in the morning, it felt like it had been all day.

We left Wheeljack and Alyssa to take care of the rest of the things and headed down into town for a while just to kill some time. I was beginning to get an idea of what was going on in Angel's family and why the girl had so much aggression built up in her over it. Still there were things I didn't know yet, so I kept my trap shut for the time being. When she was ready I supposed Angel would tell me, she wasn't keeping secrets, she just had no good reason to tell me the whole story. It would come out sometime soon though, and I planned on being ready for it.


	3. Crash and Burn: Part 3

Crash and Burn: Part 3

By the time we got the Dinobots settled in it felt like sometime in the late afternoon, but the truth of the matter was it really only about eight in the morning. So that meant that we were expected back at the house for breakfast. Alyssa and Wheeljack said that they had already eaten on the way up there so they didn't come back with the two of us. Angel and I how ever got back to the house and got to experience the full force of her family when they are around the table.

We walked in and I found my self thanking Primus up above that I had remembered to put the power converter on lock down the night before. This was due to the fact that the self same grandfather that had reset our clock for five a.m. was now in the process of playing with it and trying to get it to do something. Tempted as I was to let him actually try something with it, I had a funny feeling that Angel wouldn't have liked a huge hole in the side of her house, so I left him alone and left it in lock down.

We got around the table and started getting comfortable when I noticed that the room now was filled with utter and complete chaos. Angel's mother, her grandmother, and the aunt who had some how had a miraculous recovery, were running in and out of the kitchen and in the process of complaining about the fact that they had been forced to cook all of this. Angel sat down at the table and did not proceed to go and help any of them, I could tell that this was yet another ritual that got on her nerves, but she was doing the best she could for my sake, to not blow up.

That was when something else happened, something that almost set me off. Her grandfather finished trying to kill the power converter and then went over to where the women were in the process of cooking. He insinuated him self into the mess and began to become the biggest nuisance I have ever laid optic sensors on. That would have been plenty for me but unfortunately he didn't stop there. With in a few seconds he began to talk at the top of his lungs and with in a few more moments, he started being more than a little bit verbally abusive to Angel's grandmother. He made cracks about her age, and how a younger woman would be so much better at everything from cooking to "other" matters. More than once he happened to refer to the poor woman as "You old Bitch". I stopped gaping at this long enough to take a look at my poor life mate and found Angel with her hands clenched on the sides of the table looking like she was on the verge of getting up and going in there. I was all for someone stopping the bitter old jerk from being like that, and was going to let her go put him in his place when some one stopped her.

Her own father's hand landed on her arm and she stopped and glared at him.

"Don't Angel," He told her.

"Why not?" She growled back, "Maybe if some one put him in his place he'd stop it."

"He's done it for years, you know that." The man shrugged, "You don't have to and show out for your husband."

She silently stared at her father for a few second and then pulled her hand away, "I'm not showing off for Orion Dad, I'm just sick and tired of him treating her that way!"

I think more would have been said at that point had the problems in the kitchen not moved them selves into the dining room at that point. I took one look at the food that had been cooked and found my self suddenly very glad that I wasn't going to be the one that would have to eat it to make the relatives happy. Angel on the other hand took one look at it and got a look on her face that told me we were going out to find some thing else as soon as she possibly could get away.

Still she did an okay job of making it look like she wanted to eat the stuff, but honestly I DO NOT know how. I did a quick analysis of the stuff just out of idle curiosity to see what was in it and I wanted to gag. I don't consume that much oil and grease and I'm silicon based. My poor Angel was probably going to be sick as a dog tonight from just smelling that stuff let alone putting it into her body. But for the sake of being polite she actually did manage to down some of the stuff, though I don't think she said two words the entire time she was working on eating it.

Which gave me a chance to discover something else about her family, all of them love to talk. They love to talk and they love to talk at the same time, as loudly as possible. The grandfather that I had in the last twenty minutes developed specific opinions about, also turned out to be one of those fun types that thought, if he couldn't be intelligent then he was going to be loud. So he sat there and talked the loudest of any of them. Not only did this wonderful phenomenon take place, but every single thing Angel picked up to eat he had something to say about it. Then when she didn't completely wipe her plate clean he began to rant about how she was wasting food and money.

He went on like that for several minutes and then Angel had finally had it; she wiped her mouth on her napkin and set it on her plate. Then headed into the next room to try and get some peace and quiet. As she walked by him the grandfather tried to insist that he have some kind of affection from her and finally she gave in and gave him a rather stiff hug.

I took the plate from her and told Angel to go wait for me in the living room while I put these in the sink for the moment. She had already gone into the other room and so she didn't hear what the man she had been annoyed by all day had to say.

"You know Amy, doesn't act like that to me! She still hugs me and shows me how much she care's even though she is married"

"Dad," Angel's mom told him, "You know that Angel just isn't the touchy feely type."

"Well I bet she dose plenty with that thing you let her all marry." He snarled, "How could you let something like that into this family, its just as bad as if she married…" He used a particular epithet for African American humans here that I will not repeat, but he got his message across.

"Well I can't help it," Her mom sighed, "She's a grown woman."

"Still bringing something like that in here, She's never gonna be happy with him. He's some kind of metal monster; I bet it's not even really alive."

At that point I stepped out of the kitchen and walked up behind him, "Sir, you're her grandfather so I will do my best to try and be civil to you." That was when it occurred to him and all the rest that I had heard it ALL. "But if you keep making comments about my life mate then I will take steps to make sure that you keep your mouth shut, Understand?"

The man gapped up at me for a few seconds and I didn't even wait for a reply. I turned on my heel and marched out to where I had seen Angel go a few seconds ago. I found her in there and realized that she must have heard what was going on, what had been said on both ends, because she had a look on her face like she was about to cry. Granted having your family argue is a hard thing to live with. This however did not explain to me the look on her face. It wasn't sadness or for that matter a whole lot of pain. No what it was, was a look of resignation. A look that told me something of this had happened some time before now and she was merely accepting it. I wanted to say more but before I could get it out it was just gone and she was simply looking at me again.

The rest of the day you would hope would have been peaceful, it turned out to be any thing but. The first thing that caused trouble was the arrival of the aforementioned cousin Amy. If there could have been a person that was more opposite my Angel than this I can not possibly see how. She was all dress suits and high heels, and her husband was just as immaculate as she was. To top all of that off the woman produced what had to be one of the most unattractive human babies I have ever laid eyes on.

I actually find most human infants to be rather cute. This one however just seemed to be either dull or not all there because all it did from the moment she introduced it, all it did was bawl.

"Well here we go," Angel muttered, "She pulled that child out, now everyone is going to go gaga over the thing."

"Why?" I looked at it, "I don't think its any thing that special."

"I don't know Orion, but that's how they always are."

"Well then," I grabbed hold of her and proceeded to tug her in the direction of the doors. "Let's go off and find some place that the two of us will be happy in."

Angel smiled up at me and was about to take me up on my offer when some one else showed up. This wasn't another cousin, or someone else from her family. No this time it turned out to be a pack of Autobots that had shown up and were planning on keeping us out of trouble.

"Jazz?" Angel asked as we came out to see them after learning they were there.  
"Darned right kitten," He grinned more, "Some one has to come with you and the chief to make sure you don't go walking face first into traps again."

"Oh are you ever going to let us live that down?" I asked.

"NAH!" This was Bluestreak popping out of his own altmode and smiling at all of us. "It's so much more fun to have something that we can pin your all ears back with when we need too!"

Angel's family was less than happy about more of her "Friends" showing up, but there wasn't really that much they could do about it so they let it go. Still from seeing what her family was like and how at least some of them thought, I can understand now what was going on. However as much as that showed me why she didn't want to be around them it kept me in the dark about why she still seemed up set. There was something I was missing about what was going on, some thing that made the family this way. I kept on hoping that she would just come out and tell me, as it were the person who arrived the next day. Would be the one that would give me a lot of the answers I wanted about what was happening.


	4. Crash and Burn: Part 4

Crash and Burn: Part 4

The next morning before anything else could happen; several others from the base proceeded to materialize. Smokesceen and Prowl appeared, shortly after that Ratchet and the twins popped out of no where. I was happy to see them show up but I think Angel was even happier to have them come. What she had told me that weekend when we first met, when my spark had become a part of her was utterly true. She did not truly fit in with her human family no matter how hard she tried.

The night before when her cousin had shown up was when it became apparent to me. I honestly don't think any one in her family really meant to ignore her, or meant to actually hurt her feelings. But the more this blond girl showed off her baby, the less and less people seemed to care that Angel was even any where around. So I have to admit, as much of trouble as it could possibly cause for all of us, as much as I was coming to realize her family, with the exception of her father possibly, hadn't wanted her to marry me, I was glad that they were here to help her the way that no one else around seemed to be able to.

It would have been good if it had just stopped there, unfortunately the reason that all of the people here, My Angel included had gathered at this place, had yet to appear. So I shouldn't have been shocked when it finally did. Still I was. I was expecting Angel's sister to be something like her in some way. I couldn't have been more wrong if I had set out to do it on purpose.

She pulled her self out of the car and looked at all of the relatives there with an expression plastered on her face that spoke volumes. It was an expression that said she'd had a difficult time in her life and there for she expected every one she met to acknowledge the fact. I don't know if she wanted sympathy, but it was the horrid jaded look that first set her apart from Angel. Then there was the way she looked. Saying that she was anorexic would have been a compliment; she was nothing but skin and bones. Her hair had been mutated into some strange blond color and it looked like the dye had gone and sucked every bit of life out of it. Finally there were her eyes, snappish cold, gold that again gave me the impression that she expected some thing from every one around her.

I looked down and Angel and saw her looking at the woman with the strangest look on her face. I don't think it was really jealousy but there was definitely something there. I looked from her sister to her and wondered why. In my opinion there wasn't any thing this woman had that My Angel didn't have more and better of, in both her beauty and personality. I was wracking my brain about why Angel would be even envious of her when I found out why. The family that had been treating my poor life mate like she was the biggest outsider to ever walk into the house, suddenly were going out of their way to make this person feel more welcome than anything I had ever seen. Then they went out of their way to insult me again.

Angel's sister's husband pulled him self out of the car and then began to produce more children from in there. At least two for the moment but I got the feeling that there was more to this than any one was telling. As he helped the sister take these kids into the house and the whole family disappeared leaving Angel and my self standing out side.

"Well that went well," Angel said.

"IF that's your definition of going well Angel," I blinked down at her, "Please don't tell me what you call going badly."

"You've already seen bad love," She sighed then turned away and headed up to the barn, "Come on, I wanna see what the guys are up to."

I shook my head and followed her. A large part of me wanted to demand that she go back into that house and make her family treat her civil, but she didn't seem to want to so I let it got for the moment.

Up in the barn, Wheeljack and Alyssa, had basically turned the thing into a mini headquarters for all of us. What had been a dusty old barn less than two days ago was now set up to be something that, even though we were shrunk down, did a good job of making us all feel very much at home. They must have been doing some thing right; because that was the first time I had seen Angel smile in days. She wandered off to talk to Alyssa for a while and I made my way over to where the guys were.

"So what's been going on down there?" Wheeljack asked when he spotted me.

"What's been going on is my dislike for Angel's human family has been growing exponentially over the last 48 hours." I grumbled.

"They aren't that bad are they?" Jazz got out as he popped up from behind a panel.

"They treat her like she crawled out from under a rock Jazz," I glared, "The only people down there that have put in any effort at all are her Mother and Father."

"Guess her sister's making it worse huh?" Sideswipe wandered over, while Sunstreaker was still busy talking to both of the girls.

"I don't know about her sister yet, I just don't think its fair that they act like that girl is so perfect, and then treat Angel that way."

"Well you could tell 'em off," Bluestreak offered.

"Oh don't think I haven't thought about it more than once," I shook my head, "But what good would that do? It would just alienate me from her whole bunch and I don't think any one would want that."

"If you ask me," Prowl offered, "I think it's because her sister is a bit envious of her. I mean really, she's got everything that woman doesn't, so her sister goes out of her way to make Angel feel like she's the inadequate one."  
I looked back to where Angel was, now the happy confident person I knew, and I had to agree with him. "I just wish I knew a lil' more about her family. Maybe if I had more information Prowl, I'd know what's really gone on."  
"So," He shrugged, "Ask. What's it going to hurt?"

I opened my mouth to say more at that point when someone appeared at the edge of the barn. It was the Aunt and she was trying very hard to get Angel's attention. She managed to call her over before I could get over and both of them walked out of the barn and took off back to the house. I was about to head off in that direction when someone stopped me.

"Hey," It was Sunstreaker, "I think you'd better get up there as fast as you can Boss."

"What's the matter," I demanded, "What did you over hear?"

"Not a lot really," He shrugged, "Just that they needed her back there because it was time to make a decision about the "Family Crisis."

"Thanks Sunny," I left him standing there and took off back to the house.

Unfortunately I was way too late to stop it when I got there. I had my hand on the door and was ready to open it when the silence inside erupted into a scream from My Angel.

"YOU WHAT?" She demanded.

"You heard me," Her sister snarled, "And I think it's about time you actually took some responsibility in your life for a change too."

"What the hell do you mean by that?" Angel shot back.

"Well," Her sister continued, "I think you need to do this for me. You wasted your life playing around in college and then you went out and wasted more time on your stupid books. Then finally you went out and did the dumbest thing I've ever seen you pull by getting married to _Him."_

"Oh and your telling me your husband is SO much better than mine! At least mine hasn't tried to kill me, beat me, get drunk on me, or get my children taken away from me!"

"At least mine's human." The other girl snarked.

"That's not got a bloody thing to do with this and you know it, you just want me to do this for you because no one else will!" Angel shouted again.

"I think its time that you took a little bit of responsibility in your life for a change. You can't spend the rest of it playing around with your head in the dammed clouds. Eventually you have to come back down to earth and start living in the real world."

"Start living in the…" She trailed off here for a few seconds.

I was still standing out side of the door listening to all of this and was on the verge of going in there and ripping the sister a new one when Angel beat me to the punch.

"YOU MISERABLE…" She snarled, "HOW DARE you accuse me of not taking responsibility! HOW DARE YOU!"

"Well what would you…" Her sister stared but didn't get to finish it.

"You want responsibility! Where the hell were you when mom and dad were almost having a nervous break down? HUH!" Angel's voice took on a bit of a shrill tone that told me she was on the verge of tears, "Where were you when mom's head exploded and she had a dammed aneurysm? Where were you when dad had his by pass surgery? WHERE WERE YOU WHEN I NEEDED YOU?"

I heard some one move across the floor and there was a distinct slapping sound followed by a loud thud.

"I'll tell you where you were you BITCH! You were off in California getting you life messed up by DANILE SLAGGIN JONES! YOU were off in Florida bonking a man twice your age! YOU WERE pregnant with your ILLIGITAMATE child! That's where you were when they needed you, when I NEEDED Y OU! SO don't you EVER ," Angel's voice took on an even shriller tone here, "EVER tell me I haven't been responsible you…. You…"

That was when I heard foot steps running in my direction and the door burst open. Angel came running out into the darkness and took off in the direction of the barn again. I stood there with my mouth hanging open and stared at her whole family. Apparently none of them had expected her to act like that. I guess they had wanted her to roll over and give in like she so often seemed to do for them. This time apparently they had hit a nerve and she had decided that it was no longer worth taking.

I was about to go after her and try to calm her down when I heard it. Coming from just out side of the barn, the sound of someone transforming and their engine starting.

"I DON'T CARE! JUST DRIVE!" She wailed.

I made it back there in time to see Sunstreaker tear off the farm in a cloud of dust leaving me and her family behind. Leaving all of us behind to wonder, what was going to happen now.


	5. Crash and Burn: Part 5

Crash and Burn: Part 5

I stood there for a second and watched Sunny tear off the farm as fast has he possibly could, then I turned on Angel's family and proceeded to let them have it.

"Any one of you want to explain what the Slag just happened here?"

No one made a move or opened their mouths to say much of anything. So I took it upon my self to push my way through the crowd until I came to the girl's parents.

"Well how about you two? Want to tell me what that was all about?" I demanded.

Her mother looked away as if she was just starting to realize that what had happened was a bad thing. Angel's father on the other hand was the one that managed to get out some kind of response.

"We, our other daughter, asked her to do something…." He stopped and trailed off. "I guess the rest of us were trying to pressure Angel in to feeling like she had to."  
"So what was it?" I scowled down at him. He wasn't the only one around that knew how to pull the pissed sergeant crap.

"Don't you tell me this was wrong," This came from her mother, "Maybe it was wrong to ask Angel to do it. But this had to be done! I just can't turn away from her sister; Angel's not my only child!"

"From what I just heard mam," I crossed my arms and looked at her, "She may not be your only child, but Angel is the only child that ever acted like one to you."

"I'll have you know…" The sister began.

"SHUT UP!" I cut her off, "Just keep your slaggin mouth shut or I'm going to feed you to the Dinobots!" I turned back to Angel's parents, "So go on then, explain to me what it was that this girl of yours wanted you to do so bad that you were willing to put it off on My Poor Angel."

"She…" Angel's mother tried.

Her father shook his head, "I don't think its right to tell you. I mean we just can't go around telling family business to complete and utter strangers."

"IN CASE you hadn't noticed sir, I happen to be your daughter's life mate, You know Husband?" I was having a very hard time here keeping my temper in check, "So the last time I checked both the religious and actual laws, that makes me a part of this family."  
"I know but…" The man tried again.

"What else is going on in this family?" I snarled, "What things have gone on that would result in a pair of sisters acting that way?"  
"I'm sorry…" He tried again, "I just can't…"

"OH I get it," I shook my head at him, "You'd rather keep your stupid little secrets than tell me what I need to find your youngest daughter. Which by the way, just took off in a Lamborghini Diablo that is one of us, which in plain and simple English means, we may NEVER find her."

He opened his mouth again but I had at this point taken all I was going to from this group of misfits my poor life mate had the misfortune to share genetics with, and I preceded to storm off back to the barn.  
"Look I know you love her," He came after me, "But it's not just her that was affected by all of this mess."

I stopped and looked down at him, "What…mess?"

"Everything that's gone on in this family for the last twenty years," he blurted.

"So are you going to tell me or do I have to guess?"

"I…" He tried, I could see he was really trying but it wasn't good enough.

"Never mind," I shook my head again, "If you wont tell me, then I'll find out for my self."

I stalked off and left all of them standing there just gaping wondering what was going to happen this time, and if Angel's sister had crossed a line she should have stayed far, far away from.

"Jazz," He looked up at me as I walked in and nodded, "Get on the internet, or what ever database you have to, find out everything you possibly can about some one named Daniel Jones and what connection he has to this family."  
"Right on it!" he answered and got to work.

By that point I was over to the com station and could see that the rest of the people there were doing their level best to raise either Angel or Sunstreaker on the horn.

"Well?" I asked.

"Nothing sir," Wheeljack told me. "We're getting a homing signal from Sunstreaker, but as for answering us out loud."

"Angel's gone and turned the thing off," Alyssa sighed. "What the heck did they do to her up there Optimus?"

"I have no idea but I plan on finding out as soon as I can." I motioned to the monitor, "Get a fix on that homing beacon, I'm going to go after her."

A few seconds later they told me that they had stopped and were showing no signs of moving again, so I got out and got ready to get on the road. This meaning that I went out side and returned to my proper size. I was about to take off and go get her when Jazz came running up to me.  
"PRIME!" he called.

"What Jazz," I stopped as I noticed that he was holding a data pad in his hand, "Did you find something?"

"You need to take a look at this boss," I could tell that his eyes were the size of tires underneath his visor, "It's about that guy you wanted me to look up."  
I was about to take it from him when he stopped me, "Prime, there's also something there about Miss Angel."

"What do you mean?" I drew my self closer and took it out of his hands.

"I think the girl's got some real issues Optimus," He shook his head at me, "Though this would explain why she's bound and determined to not do the damsel in distress thing."

I scanned down the page feeling my own optics widen in horror as I processed the information that was being offered to me. Part of me screamed that there was no way in hell that she could have been mixed up in something like that. There was no way that her family would have let the child she must have been at the time see all of that stuff, but thinking back on the last few days, and how jittery she had been to come here, this information made it make SO much more sense to me.

"Go back to the barn Jazz," I told him, "Keep an eye on the tracking signal, if it moves any, tell me."

"Roger that boss."

He vanished up the hill and I proceeded to transform into my alt mode and take off in the direction I was told Angel was. As it turned out, once she became stationary she never moved from the place. Sunstreaker stayed there and kept an eye on her until I pulled up into the parking lot of the old drag strip just out side of the town where we had first met, Stanton.

She was there, sitting in what was left of the stands with her knees pulled up and her head buried in her arms. I hoped that she was still awake and that I would be able to talk to her, getting her to be coherent after she has dozed off is just this side of impossible.

As I pulled up Sunny transformed and looked at me. For once his face wasn't full of arrogance, or vanity or anything that was typical Sunny. No, this time his face as filled with complete and utter dread about what was going to happen to the girl that he had carried to this place.

"Prime I'm so sorry, I never should have…" he started.

"Don't Sunny," I held up my hand to him, "You helped her, that's all that matters to me. Now it's my turn to go and do something."

Sunstreaker nodded and proceeded to back down while I stepped over the broken remains of the retaining wall and took on my human size again.

I found her just sitting there still, head in arms, body posture saying that she wished all of it would just end, right then and there.

"Angel," I put my hand on her shoulder, "I found out everything."  
"Even Jones?" came a muffled reply.

"Yah even him." I sighed, "Now I have a question for you, why didn't you tell me any of this stuff Angel? Why didn't you tell me that your sister married some one who…?" I stopped at a loss for words suddenly.

"Some one who was coming to kill my whole family Orion," She told me, "That was her first husband. A murdering SOB who was willing to kill my sister and every one she loved."  
"What happened," I begged, "Please tell me?"

"There isn't much to tell, that was the first time she ran off," Angel shrugged, "1988, she vanished in the fall of 1988. She wanted to go to California and be some kind of a rock star, so she took off not knowing that it takes money and time to do that."

"Go on…"

"She hooked up with Jones when her money ran out, after she had sold everything she owned and still wasn't there. She hooked up with him and they were together for the first few months that she was gone. With in a few weeks after his funds vanished they were calling my parents trying to extort money from them." She looked up at me, "Jones would get on the phone and tell my parents that he would kill her if they didn't send the money. Being who they are, of course, my parents did what he wanted, they didn't want my sister's stupidity to get her killed."

She took a deep breath and was getting ready to start again when I held up my hand for her to stop.  
"I want to know one thing about this entire thing Angel," she looked up at me and so I continued, "It isn't about your sister or the creep she was with. I want to know about you."

"What about me?" She blinked looking at me like some one had never gone and asked her that question.

"That's exactly it, did any one stop to think about you while this was going on?"  
"I don't understand Orion," she blinked up at me again.

I put my hands on her shoulder and held her there, "How old were you Angel? How old were you when this started, when you sister first ran away?"

She shook her head, "Ten… I think… maybe younger…"

Now I was gaping, every single thing I had read on that data pad was true. They had let a ten year old child witness all of this. They had let her see things she shouldn't have known were in the world until she was grown.

"You were ten when this happened? You were ten HUMAN years old when your sister ran away and left you to deal with parents that were devastated by what she did?"

"Orion I never thought about it that way, their my parents…." She trailed off.

"That means their supposed to protect you, not the other way around," I glared off into space for a second and then looked back at her. "What did you sister come here to ask you to do Angel?"

She sighed and then finally relented, "She wanted me to take her oldest child. The kid doesn't get along with her newest husband. So she wanted to send him to be with her family. My parents are too sick and too old to take him, no one else wants him, so…"

"So they dumped it off on you, right?" She nodded at me and I let out another sigh, "Why didn't you tell me any of this Angel?" I asked again.

"What good would that have done," She looked away from me, "No one's ever listened."

I noticed that she was about to cry and I pulled her up into my arms, "Oh Primus. I'm sorry, I'm so very sorry."

Everything that had gone on this weekend, not once had she started crying, not once had she let any of them see how badly all of this, every thing had affected her. But then she finally let it all out, let out all of the pain and emotion that she had been keeping in side for a life time.

I had a few days ago wanted to know if Angel had as many problems in her past as me. I now had my answer and as I held her in my arms and thought about if finding out the truth about her past was worth it.


	6. Crash and Burn: Part 6

Crash and Burn: Part 6

The two of us sat there for most of the night and she told me about every thing that had happened as a result of her sister taking off in the first place. Time and again it seemed to me that the harder Angel tried to pick up the pieces the harder those around her tried to keep her from getting her life back.

Still her love and her loyalty kept her coming back to them time and time again not matter how much she had been hurt. What I wanted to do right then was head back to the ark and make sure that none of those people back on the farm ever bothered her again. Still that wasn't what she wanted and it was Angel's family, so when she finally calmed down and asked that the two of us head back, I transformed and carried her home.

When we finally got back there two sets of people were waiting for her to come home. Her human family and the Autobots that had followed her to the farm, after the two of us had left to solve this. The humans were all standing there with looks on their faces like the world was about to come to some kind of end over having to admit that they had been wrong. The guys looked like they were ready to flatten them humans if they DIDN'T admit that they had been wrong.

Angel slid down out of my cab and just stood there looking at all of them as I transformed and then changed size. I knew that she wasn't going to be the one to open her mouth and get the discussion going, so I pegged her parents with a glare that would have melted steel, and that cued them into action.

"Angel," Her Father stepped up to her and put his arms around her, "God baby I am so sorry that we did this to you. We had no right."

"It's…" She started and then changed her mind, "No It isn't okay, your right, you didn't have a right to do this to me. But you did, so now what are we going to do about it?"

"Well first off," Her Mother chimed in, "Every single person in this family wants to apologize for mistreating your husband. Some one who cares about you that much can't be a bad person."

She nodded and they took that as a sign to continue with the explanations.  
"As for what we wanted you to do," Her mom shook her head, "Don't even think about it. Your sister and her family are just going to have to find some other solution."

Most of the rest of the group agreed with all of this and made a point of saying so right then. There were nods of agreement, looks of encouragement and lots of other demonstrations that all of them regretted what they had pulled the day before. Angel did her best to hear them all out then looked at her family.

"I really do appreciate what all of you are saying," She paused for a second, "Thank you for realizing that I'm not responsible for what she's done in her life. But I do have some thing to tell all of you."

That froze all of them in their tracks and I could tell that for the first time in a long time, possibly ever, they were all hanging on every single word that this girl had to say.

"I realized last night that no matter what I do, I am never going to fit into this family. So, I've decided to stop trying, you are going to have to accept me the way I am. Husband, life, career, emotions and all, I'm not going to wear a mask any longer so you people will be happy. You won't do it for me, so I'm not going to do it for you any longer."

All of them started to talk at once and each of them having some thing to say that they no doubt thought was vital to what she was telling them right then. She held up her hands and when that didn't get their attention she proceeded to snarl, "QUIET!"

That did get their attention.

"This doesn't mean that you were bad parents, or that you did any thing wrong when you were raising me. You did the best job you knew how to do I'm sure. All it means is that I am an adult and whether you people like it or not it's high time you accepted it."

"Your right," This was her Dad again, "I guess we wanted you to stay a kid forever, but you're not going to and we have to deal with that."

"Yes you do, So no screaming, no fits, no loosing your temper or yelling at me, or telling me that I NEVER listen to you, or that I think I know everything, or that I think your stupid," She kept going, "Or that I don't love you, or that I will regret it if you have a heart attack, or that I wish you'd never survived your by pass surgery, or any thing else like that."  
"I've …" he paused and thought about what she had just told him.

"You what Daddy? You never said any of that stuff to me?" She blinked, "Then I was having hallucinations…"

"Well yah I guess I was a bit harsh," He looked sheepish suddenly and rubbed the back of his head, "I'm sorry."

"Don't be sorry," She looked at her mom now, "I don't want you people to be sorry, I want you to say that you will trust me and treat me like an adult okay?"

"That's not too much to ask," I chimed in, "After all, unlike the other girl, this one has always been there for you. Since she was TEN!"

That one made both her parents blink, and stop and look at me.

"She told you?" Her Mom managed.

"No she didn't its common knowledge mam." I motioned off into the distance, "All you have to do is get on the internet and look. Your big family secret isn't."

"Oh," Now she looked sheepish.

"Yah," Angel nodded, "Any how, I do want to thank all of you for agreeing to back off. I would take the kid but I can't, and I shouldn't have to it's her responsibility."  
I noticed that as she spoke tears were welling up in her eyes and this time she had no intention of hiding how she felt from the rest of the world around her, specifically her family. For the first time in a long time she wasn't about to hide what she felt.

"Now don't cry, there's no need to..." Her Father started.

"Don't you dare tell me to not cry," She snapped, "You told me that all my life because you're ashamed to cry. Well guess what? Girls cry daddy, and I am a girl. I'm your daughter not your cadet!"

His face fell as if he was actually realizing that he had been telling some one who should do something to not do something. That he had been rather than making it stronger making it more fragile because the shell, the mask had to hide, holds so much.

I don't really know what they were thinking at that point but the humans; My Angel included moved off to the house and probably spent the rest of the night working out all of the problems that the family had. Everything from learning how to show emotions to the fact that she didn't like to have her grand father pawing her. There were a whole lot of years of stress that each and every one of them were holding back and by the time she had gotten it all out, Her parents had gone and told her grand parents about their problems too. It wasn't healing, it wasn't taking it away, but it was the first step and that in and of its self was something that none of them had been willing to do.

Morning eventually came and that saw all of the relatives that had shown up for this family meeting, packing and heading off back to the places they belonged. Every one agreed that the farm was Angel's hide out and that it was wrong to be here and intrude on her.  
The last ones to leave there were her parents. Both of them stayed on a little while longer, wishing their daughter well and telling her that they had never meant to be harsh, or to let the weight of her sister's actions come crashing down solely on her shoulders. In the end they actually did apologize and left her alone to come to terms with what had been done and said over the course of this week end.

I found her sitting on the front porch, once it was all over and done. She sat there and was looking out into the world wondering if she had done the right thing or not. If she should have kept what she knew to her self, or was it better to have finally let the rest of the world know that even she had to show her family she had emotions once in a while.

"Hey you okay?" I walked up and sat down next to her.

"I will be," She shoved her hair back, "But its going to take some time Orion. I don't really think I did the right thing, deep down. I should have just kept my opinions to my self."

"First off," I put my arm around her, "They aren't opinions they are the way you really felt, second even I don't hold them in all the time, my emotions. Even I crash once in a while."

"I guess that makes us all normal then," She sighed.

"Yes it dose," I felt her put her head down on my shoulder, "That makes you more normal than your whole family combined."

"I just don't know what to do any more," She shut her eyes and leaned against me harder. "I just can't be like this, fall flat on my face emotionally in front of everyone I love."

"You know," I held her tighter, "In the end it doesn't matter. All that matters is you do what's really best for you."  
"Ya think?"  
"I know," I put my chin on the top of her head and put my other arm around her, "I know something else too. Fall flat on your face as often as you want to baby, because I promise I will be here to pick you up."  
I felt something wet touch my shoulder and I knew she was crying again. She hugged me tighter once more, "Thank you"

Authors notes:  
Well im sticking it at the end this time just cus I dont wnat to do a seperate chapter. Any how hope you liked the latest installment. sorry it took so long to get loaded. I cant put up the song lyrics but if any one out there wants the lyrics mail me and I will get them too you. The name of the song was "Crash and Burn" and it was by Savage garden. Any how I hope you liked it all and let me know what you think.

take care!  
RP1


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